Wednesday Briefs: December 25, 2019

Here is a list of all the authors flashing this week, along with a brief snippet from their latest free work. Click the link after the snippet to be taken to the complete story on the author’s home page.

In Pieces #84 (20.2) by Julie Lynn Hayes

They sat out on the patio and talked for a while, giving Ben and Cassie a chance to get to know one another. Ryan was very happy that his two favorite people in the world could finally meet. Afterward, they carried in their luggage and took it to the room they’d once shared. Cassie had made a few changes in the room in the short time Ryan had been gone, but they were good ones. She’d taken out the two single beds and replaced them with a full-sized bed with matching furniture. Ryan was just as surprised as Ben.

“This looks great,” he kept saying, and Cassie beamed.

“I was hoping you would like it,” she said with a knowing glance between the two

Well that stung. Not even the tiny fae recognized my magic anymore. I’d muddied the waters of my soul too deep. Not-unicorn. I swallowed hard and looked away from the small fluttering wings that chimed like bells in the breeze they created.

Bells.

“Have you been following us?” I asked.

“Yes.” The tiny Being didn’t even try to deny it. Fae were capricious, tricky, but they did not lie. Not outright.

Lizzie groaned at the hand shaking her shoulder. It couldn’t be time to get up yet. She hadn’t long gone to sleep.

“Lizzie, Lizzie, wake up. Come, on, you gotta get up and see this.”

Lizzie slapped the hands away. “Go away, Theo, I’m sleeping.”

“But, Lizzie. Santa’s here. I saw him. He’s downstairs with Da.”

Lizzie slapped Theo’s hands away again. “We talked about this. There s no such person as Santa. Your ten years old now. You’re old enough to know when your parents are using something to blackmail you. Be good or Santa won’t bring you gifts for Christmas! That’s dumb.”

Aaryn made his to-do list and after a couple of large cups of coffee, he was ready to spend the day dealing with the locals.

Groceries was the last item on his list, but it was the least stressful. The first thing was to get to city hall and find out what permits might be needed to put up an eight foot privacy fence up around the backyard.

City hall was a quick trip as he found that he didn’t need a permit. Cheered up by that, he went to lumberyard and hit his first snag of the day.

Arad sat on the hard floor petting Roku’s head, praying for no more nightmares beyond the one they were living in. A prickling numbness grew in his left leg, but he ignored it to keep from disturbing his unconscious partner. The shallow yet steady rise and fall of Roku’s chest was the only thing holding Arad’s growing anxiety at bay as he felt around for injuries. A small, curious circle of scorched fur similar to one’s lining the shock collar marred Roku’s back, the only new evidence he could find. At least an hour passed before the tiger stirred.